2021 NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships – Day 2 Recap

(as reported by the NAIA National Office)

Yankton, S.D. – The preliminary rounds of the 56th annual NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Championships were completed on Thursday at Ruth Donohoe Fieldhouse on the campus of Mount Marty (S.D.), with Dakota State (S.D.) as its host for the third straight year.

Day 2 Highlights

• The second day of the national meet featured preliminary rounds in 11 different men’s events. It started with three consecutive relays competition in the morning/mid-afternoon session.
• The first men’s NAIA national individual champion of the 2020-21 season closed the night in the pole vault event.  Top-seeded John Hunter James of Columbia International (S.C) repeated the national pole vault champion after clearing 5.25 meters (17 feet, 2.75 inches).
• It was the highest pole vault measurement since 2010 by Stefanos Koufindis of Culver-Stocken (Mo.) with 5.30 meters (17 feet, 4.5 inches).
• Columbia International holds an early lead in the men’s standings with 10 points. Marian (Ind.) is second with eight points, followed by Concordia (Neb.) in third with 6.5 points. Indiana Wesleyan is fourth in the standings with six points, while Eastern Oregon is fifth with five points.  More points will be scored after Friday’s heptathlon and numerous national finals on Saturday.
• The heptathlon kicked-off the day with four events.  Top-seeded Philip Stomne of Keiser (Fla.) led from the start of the heptathlon through the fourth event, thanks to pair of titles in the 60-meter dash, followed by the long jump.
• Stomne racked up a total of 2,910 points, holding 125 points lead over second-place Cleet Wrzesinski of Dickinson State (N.D.) with 2,785 points.
• The heptathlon will be completed on Friday with three events remaining, starting with the 60-meter hurdles at 9 a.m. The heptathlon continues with the pole vault and will finish with the 1000-meter run to declare the national champion.
• Alexander Gray of Warner (Fla.) hit the fastest time in the 60-meter dash prelims in 6.71 seconds. There were three runners recording an official time of 6.85 seconds (Kadari Mitchell of USC-Beaufort and Cameron Cavalier of Missouri Valley were tied for fifth, followed by SenQuavius Johnson of Dakota State (S.D.) seventh). 
• Dordt’s Payton Mauldin edged the 600-meter run defending champion Reggie Mouton of Wayland Baptist (Texas). Mauldin posted a time of 1:20.23, finishing ahead by .36 seconds.
• The 800m run prelims saw the closest margin in the top eight, separating by just .80 seconds. Max Whittredge of Spring Arbor (Mich.) notched the fastest time of 1:54.86, while the eighth faster runner of Milan Todorovic of Oklahoma City with a time of 1:55.64.
• Defending 800m run champion Matthew Van Eps was third in the prelims round in 1:55.03.
• Huntington, who won the NAIA Indoor Track & Field men’s team title last season in Brookings, S.D., had three runners placed in the top six in the 3000m run prelims. Haile Stutzman led the Foresters with the top time of 8:46.42. Adrien Gentie was third (8:46.51) and Reece Gibson finished sixth (8:54.47).

Up Next

The third day of the NAIA national championships is set for Friday, starting with the men’s heptathlon events at 9 a.m.

Nineteen different women’s events will be declared national champion on Friday. The women’s 3000m racewalk kicks off at 9:10 a.m. and wraps up with the 4×400 relay at 3:45 p.m. 

For full schedule CLICK HERE. Be sure to watch the action on the NAIA Network https://portal.stretchinternet.com/naia/